Dr. Howard Dean on the new Medicare prescription-drug benefit: "My mother needs that program."

Ponder the implications of that "need":

Dean, who grew up on Park Avenue, was born into wealth. He became a physician, married a physician, served as governor of Vermont and is now chairman of the Democratic National Committee. During his unsuccessful bid for his party's 2004 presidential nomination, he reported his net worth at between $2.2 million and $5 million.

And the rich mother of this rich man "needs" the government ? i.e., the taxpayers ? to buy her medicine for her?

Ever since Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt sold Social Security to the public in 1935 with an "all invest, all benefit" pitch, our welfare state's relentlessly rising financial obligations haven't been confined to the poor's "needs." Nor is the pervasive "my mother needs that program" mindset confined to the political left.

Ponder a self-described conservative's praise for that Medicare prescription-drug program: "These reforms are the act of a vibrant and compassionate government."

That was Republican President George W. Bush in late 2003 as he signed into law the largest entitlement expansion in 38 years.

Why stop with drug "needs"? Why not fulfill "needs" for housing, food, clothing, fuel and video games?

Ponder this reasoning from another self-described conservative: "Whether it's easing the pain at the pump on the way to work or on the way to the Grand Strand for summer vacation, this tax relief is something that would make a real impact on South Carolinians' lives and pocketbooks this summer."

That was Republican Gov. Mark Sanford Wednesday, advocating suspension of the 16.75-cent state tax on a gallon of gas from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Later that day, the S.C. House passed a three-month suspension of its own, starting four months later than the governor's proposal. (Sanford went along with the change.)

OK, so the governor's just trying to get any tax cut he can ? and in Congress he was an ardent entitlement-reform advocate.

House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, another self-described conservative, said we can afford the gas-tax suspension because "we're expecting a huge increase in revenue at the end of the year."

But can we long afford further delaying conservation and alternative-energy development by softening the impact of oil-market reality? Can our state long afford to spend growing chunks of its budget on Medicaid? Can our nation long afford the insidious illusion of government's duty ? and ability ? to meet our ever-proliferating "needs"?

Ponder this vintage guilt trip from another Texan in the White House, Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson, as he celebrated his 1965 "Great Society" Medicare creation: "There are more than 18 million Americans over the age of 65. Most of them have low incomes."

There are now more than twice that number of Americans over 65. Most of them don't have low incomes.

Meanwhile, far too many Americans, across age and income lines, don't realize they're paying 7.65 percent of their incomes into Medicare (1.45 percent) and Social Security (6.2 percent). Those "contributions" are listed on paychecks. Matching employer "contributions" are not. The total hit, as a cost of employment, is 15.3 percent.

Yet that's still not going to be nearly enough to cover the escalating tab for inefficient entitlements bound for demographic oblivion. A woman called C-Span last week to vent over how confusing the new Medicare drug deal's options are. With Monday's deadline for picking a plan looming, she lamented, "I can't understand the program."

Everybody could understand this pre-Medicare-drug-benefit program:

Buy your own medicine.

Sure, lots of folks can't afford it.

But Dr. Dean's mom can.

Alas, Nanny Statists won this defining debate decades ago. For old times' sake, though, ponder this 1964 Republican Convention challenge from self-described conservative Ronald Reagan as he praised presidential candidate Barry Goldwater's opposition to Johnson's Medicare scheme:

"Will you resist the temptation to get a government handout for your community? Realize that the doctor's fight against socialized medicine is your fight. We can't socialize the doctors without socializing the patients. Recognize that government invasion of public power is eventually an assault upon your own business."

Recognize, too, that Americans' answer to Reagan's leading question is "no." We've not only been bought into a "socialized" dependency on Big Brother, we've been bought with our own money ? at a price far beyond our long-term means.

And as we Baby Boomers retire, this bitter medicine will induce increasingly unpleasant side effects.

Frank Wooten is associate editor of The Post and Courier. His e-mail is wooten@postandcourier.com.

---